Thursday, May 15, 2008

blogging professionals

i'm sure most of you were as taken aback by the tumultuous shift on this blog yesterday morning as i was. in an era where change is the only inevitability, it's nice to have at least one constant in my life. the sunsphere is not a wigshop is my rock.

every morning, i stumble into work half-awake and flip on the computer. the caffeine may have my blood moving, but my brain typically remains stubbornly asleep, fending off reality to the bitter end. the first site of the day? you guessed it. in spite of the fact that i write for this blog and that we rarely get up more than one post a day, it is essential that i get my wigshop update AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. what if an entire productive hour went by without my knowing the exact time of the last post? the answer is too damaging even to comprehend. afterward, i spend the better part of my day burning the refresh button. you never know and firefox just takes too long...

but that is all backdrop. yesterday morning, i typed in the address (surprisingly, this blog is not my homepage. not surprisingly, it is for other contributors) and look what i found!


it was nearly catastrophic for me. i thought "some hooligan and his friends have undoubtedly loaded one of their blog-viruses on here and it's all over now."

but then i took a closer look.

we have a personalized icon. ck, our hats are off to you for having time, wherewithal, and keen insight into the needs of this blog.

so that's all this overblown, windbag of a post was about. enjoy our icon.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stan, your arrows in photoshop never cease to amaze me. You are a technical and artistic genius. And also a wizard.

stan said...

thanks for acknowledging my magic prowess, em. most of my mythical abilities come from a secret location, known only to the most powerful wizards, and now you.

grantly said...

you really got to watch out for those hooligans and their "blog-viruses". Stan - you sound like such an old man.

I totally didn't mean to make that rhyme.

But i also am in awe of your digital image editing prowess.

ck said...

thanks, stan. just trying to keep things classy at the wigshop.

the icon ended up looking like our glam rock squid's tentacles all fell out. then it made me think of the sunsphere getting beheaded "cloverfield" style and the big disco ball laying on its side in the street...
daydreaming at work is fun!

Anonymous said...

Would anyone be willing to give my your short take on some Knoxville info? In particular, is it pretty easy to get around by walking, and is the bus system pretty decent? I'm getting ready to move to Knoxville for school, and am really hoping I can just ditch my car most of the time. Also, do you feel pretty safe walking around at night? Sorry to throw these questions at you all, but you seem pretty approachable in your blog, and I can't seem to find much info beyond statistics on all the "city sites" I've been to. I appreciate it! --Jen

stan said...

jen,

-it is pretty easy to get around on foot or bike b/t downtown knoxville, north knoxville, and campus. downtown knoxville is more or less pedestrian friendly. from north to campus it can be a pretty good trek, but certainly within biking distance.

-while knoxville as a whole is a relatively safe city, you should still be careful at night. in general, it is unwise to walk alone at night. the campus has tried to offset this with lots of lights, frequent public phones, etc. but it's still good to be on the safe side. especially around downtown knoxville later in the evening. while the homeless population is harmless for the most part, there have been occasions of violence. in a scary situation recently, a good friend of mine was assaulted at 8pm on a busy street in town. sometimes people are just freaks.

anyway, all that to say knoxville is safe in general, but like anywhere, be smart.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jen -
Stan's advice is all correct. I will also add the campus, downtown and the fort (the neighborhood near campus have a trolley system, and the trolley is free! I have never taken a bus in this town, but I have a close friend who has lived here car-free for 6 years, and she swears by the bus system. If you are looking for housing options, the metropulse - metropulse.com - has a good online classifieds section.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for the advice!